Data collection devices are a class of device used to collect, process, and transfer data to a data processing system. Data collection devices may be provisioned with one or more of a variety of data collection sub-systems including: imager, laser scanner, RFID scanner, and magnetic media scanner. Such sub-systems generally scan some data bearing device such as dataforms (e.g. barcodes), magnetic stripes, and RFID tags. The collected data is processed within the data collection device by a processor and associated circuits. The type and amount of processing may vary depending on the class of device, but usually includes, at a minimum, decoding the output of the data collection sub-system to generate a string of data corresponding to the encoded data contained within the data bearing device. The decoded data is then generally transferred to a terminal device (such as a cash register) using a primary communication path. This communication path may be one of any number of wired and wireless communication paths, such as 802.11, cellular, IrDA, USB, serial and parallel paths.
Although the conventional data transfer process outlined above is sufficient for normal day-to-day operation of the data collection device, difficulties arise when the process is extended to grant additional functionality to the data collection devices. In several implementations, the primary communication path is one-way—data can be transferred from the data collection device to the terminal device, but not from the terminal device to the data collection device. Features of the data collection device requiring a downstream channel from the terminal device to the data collection device, such as remote monitoring, software updating, or real-time licensing, cannot be implemented. In addition, although other primary communication paths are two-way, these communication paths may have limited bandwidth, such that implementing additional features to take advantage of the two-way communication path would limit the primary functions of the data collection device.
Updating hardware or software on the data collection device highlights the problems of the conventional system. In the conventional system, when the software or hardware on a portable data terminal needs to be updated, every portable data terminal must be manually updated. Data collection devices employing one-way communication paths cannot be updated automatically because the data cannot be transferred to the data collection device. Similarly, bandwidth limitations or implementation decisions (such as security concerns) limit the use of two-way communication paths for this purpose. Since the data cannot be automatically transferred, each data collection device must be manually updated. Although the updating process is not difficult for small enterprises with few data collection devices, the process is time-consuming and inefficient for large enterprises that may have hundreds or thousands of data collection devices requiring updates. A system that eliminates the problem of limited bandwidth and difficulty in communicating with the data collection device would be desired.